STANFORD, Calif-- The mantel is getting full! Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is proud to announce that it is a recipient of the new Excellence in Patient Safety & Health Care Quality Award — the fifth award in two years to recognize the hospital’s ongoing and remarkable commitment to patient safety. In 2003, Packard Children’s Board of Directors identified improvements in patient safety as the hospital’s number one priority, and the focus is paying off.
 
“We are absolutely determined to provide the very best care for our patients,” said hospital CEO Christopher Dawes. “We supplement the skills of our world-class physicians and nurses with proven ways to reduce or eliminate medical errors and implement best practices. We are extremely proud of our patient safety track record and the awards that recognize our efforts.”
The 22 recipients of this most recent award were picked by California’s four biggest health care plans. Aetna, Blue Shield of California, CIGNA HealthCare of California, and UnitedHealthcare used scores the hospitals earned on a voluntary survey conducted by the Leapfrog Group — a nationwide consortium of nearly 200 health care purchasers dedicated to rewarding excellence and informing choices in health care—to determine who would be recognized. They looked at four main areas of patient care and safety:

• Whether the hospitals use computers to enter physicians’ medication orders.
• Whether the hospitals meet volume, process and outcome criteria for certain high-risk surgeries or conditions.
• Whether the hospitals staff their intensive care units with physicians certified in critical care medicine; and
• The hospitals’ Leapfrog Safe Practices Scores, which rates their performance on an additional 27 practices aimed at reducing preventable medical mistakes. In 2004, Packard Children’s perfect score in this resulted in the hospital being placed ahead of all 858 participating hospitals, including  26 other children’s hospitals.